2018 Road Trip - Channel Islands National Park

When we initially planned this road trip the Channel Islands was left out because they weren't accessible by car. They were eventually added back in because we decided we couldn't end up skipping one of the California national parks. After adding it back in to the itinerary, I realized my nephew Joe lived in the area. As a result we were able to visit family and a national park at the same time.

The logistics of visiting the Channel Islands was challenging for a family of five. First, the islands can only be accessed by boat. Second there are no services on the islands so we had to bring everything we needed with us. This ruled out any camping, but even doing a simple day hike required planning since we couldn't just turn around if things didn't go according to plan (like we did on the Watchman hike at Zion). Finally, we had to choose just one of the islands to visit. We eventually chose Santa Cruz Island as it was the largest.

Joe and his wife Kristen were kind enough to let us crash at their home so we could establish a base of operations. On the day of our trip we drove to the boat with our packs filled and ready to go. The boat took an hour to get to Santa Cruz. Along the way we saw sea lions and dolphins. Vivian enjoyed feeling the wind at the front of the boat, but poor Lily got a little sea sick during the ride.

Once on the island the boat departed and we had five hours to explore. We chose a hike to Potato Harbor which involved climbing up the island and following the sea cliffs to the harbor. The beautiful ocean side hike was very different from the desert hikes we'd done earlier on the trip. It was also much cooler relatively speaking (80's vs 90's+). But one problem plagued us for most of the hike - there was little to no shade to shelter us from the sun. Five hours of exposure to the normally pleasant 80 degree weather made things more and more miserable as we hiked. By the time we returned to the dock we were low on water and couldn't wait to get back to the mainland. The whole family agreed this was the least liked of the parks on trip. Still it was very beautiful and unique. Under better circumstances I would still recommend a visit to the Channel Islands.

Back on the mainland we had a good time with Joe's family. They also have three kids so the six cousins (once removed) had a fun time playing together in their nice yard and abundant orchard.